Our trip to L.A. was quite successful. We decided to take the train up from San Diego to L.A. because we'd found better (i.e. cheaper) bikes listed. Once we got to L.A. we had to take public transportation (pretty much unheard of by any denizen of L.A.) to go for test rides in Long Beach (far) and North Los Angeles (further). We checked out this bike first, a good deal but a bit of a heavy bike for me and then Josh and I parted ways for him to go check out his perfect ride.
I was picked up by my friend Raul and we went back to his house for some Jack Daniels on the rocks. Our friend Darryl walked over two blocks from his house (also unheard of in L.A.) and we watched Raul's self-produced/directed/acted feature length film for a while until Josh gave me a call asking for directions. I duly gave them. A few minutes later we heard a rat-tat-tat-tat-tat driving by and knew it must be him. I ran outside and saw his totally tricked out KLR 650 which he had bought for a steal.
We all watched bits and pieces of Raul's film for a while and then Josh spoke with his friend Mollie Lief. He was trying to convince her to hang out with us which happily turned out to be easily done. She also lived two blocks away.
Darryl needed his beauty rest so we bid him adieu and headed to Jones for some celebratory drinks and much needed food (for some reason Josh and I do not eat during the day). We met up with some of my friends from Vassar all of which but one actually recognized me due to the hitherto unsported beard. Good times had by all... (ellipsis necessary)
We spent the night at Raul's and once morning broke-and it broke hard-Josh took off to a local motorcycle shop for a loaner helmet for me so we could go back and pick up the bike that had caught my fancy. We got lost. Repeatedly.
L.A. is big.
And noisy. And polluted. And has bad drivers. I (heart) L.A.
We picked up my bike and got a great deal on it as well. Then the first testing of the bikes was down the Pacific Coast Highway where we stopped for a bite on Seal Beach before the trek down the coast. Two hours later we made it home to Steph and Greg's. Home sweet home.
And feel free to donate to our ever-dwindling coffers:
